Gumpaste cherry blossoms are a pretty addition to a Spring themed cake, and you can use them as an unexpected filler flower that’s just a little different from the normal choices.
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These are pretty easy to make, they use the basic “pinch” method to form the petals, so there are no cutters needed.
Materials needed for cherry blossoms:
- Small yellow or pink stamens
- Thin floral wire
- Thicker floral wire
- Wood dowel with a pointed end
- Small scissors
- Floral tape (green or brown)
- Styrofoam to hold flowers while they dry
- Gumpaste
- Pink petal dust
Tips for making gumpaste Cherry Blossoms
-Make sure the stamens extend from the center of the flower and fan out.
-The petals should be fairly thin and not stiff-looking.
-If you use pale pink gumpaste you won’t need to dust the flowers unless you want to deepen a color.
Make the stamens.
Cut the ends off of about 12-15 stamens and attach to a thin wire with floral tape.
The stamens should be about 1” long above the tape.
If the stamens are too short, pull them up out of the tape a little.
Bend the stamens down and fan them out to make the centers.
Make the blossoms.
Start with a ball of gumpaste that’s between ½”- 3/4” across.
Make a cone shape on one end of the ball.
With a pair of scissors, make five cuts about 1/3 of the way down the non-cone side of the ball.
Press the petals flat and round the tips.
Try to keep the petals separate from each other.
If you need to cut them apart again, do that at any point while making them.
Go around the flower several times and press the petals to thin them and give them a slight ruffle.
The petals should be very thin.
Move them around so that they look like they’re not so flat.
Using the pointed end of the dowel, make a hole in the center of the flower.
Color the flowers.
If you used white gumpaste, brush a small amount of pink on the flower depending on how dark you want it to be.
You can also brush a little bit of darker pink in the very center of the flower.
A little variation on the petals makes the flower look more realistic.
Insert the stamens into the flower.
Insert the stamen into the center of the flower.
Pinch the gumpaste around the wire, leaving the stamens extending over the top of the flower.
The identifying trait of cherry blossoms is their long stamens that fan out over the flower.
Pinch any extra gumpaste off of the back of the flower, smoothing the gumpaste out along the wire where the flower meets the stem.
Make sure the stem and the gumpaste are smoothly connected.
Arrange the petals so that they’re not flat, but ruffled and arranged unevenly.
Hang the flower upside down to dry.
Make some buds.
Make some buds by inserting a hooked wire into an oval piece of gumpaste then pinching the paste around the wire.
Dust the bud with some pink petal dust.
For some of the buds, hollow out the gumpaste with the pointed dowel and make five small cuts in the top edge.
Pinch the petals flat but don’t spread them out too much.
Fold the petals up and thin them by pressing against the dowel.
Arrange the petals in an overlapping arrangement , cupping them so that they look like the bud is opening.
Wire the flowers and buds.
Using a length of thicker wire, start wrapping the end in brown or green tape.
I used brown to make this branch, so I had to re-wrap the flowers themselves. If you intend to use one color for the branch, it will save time to use the same color when you do the flowers!
Wrap the branch and attach flowers and buds along the length as you go.
The flowers should be attached with about 1 to 1 ½” of the flower’s stem “growing” out of the branch.
When you finish attaching the flowers and buds to the branch, you’ll be able to bend the main wire to fit it around the cake.
